Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Mooncakes, by Wendy Xu

Ok... so Halloween was a few weeks back, but for me it's always an excellent time for a Witch Story. Especially when it's as adorable as Mooncakes, the newest graphic novel by Wendy Xu.

Teen witch Nova lives with her grandmothers and helps them run Black Cat Books and Cafe, which is not your typical bookstore, which sells everything from ordinary bestsellers to special collection magic books. Like would any girl with special powers, Nova's struggling to balance her magic life with her ordinary life. But of course that's not always the easiest thing to do (if it was, there wouldn't be a story). Especially when her childhood crush, Tam Lang, who just happens to be a werewolf, rolls back into town. Nova couldn't be happier. And, as it turns out, Tam reciprocates her feelings. This has all the setup for a super cute magical romance story.

But there's dark supernatural forces afoot.

A cult of evil witches who would like nothing more to harness Tam's wolf magic for their own purposes. And Tam and Nova (and the grandmothers) are the only ones who can stop them.

Mooncakes is fun to read. Reminded me a lot of Lumberjanes, actually. With a a bit of Scooby-Doo feels too, because the villain would have gotten away with it too if not for those meddling kids and their dog...I mean werewolf. Also, if you pay attention to clues throughout the story, you can guess who the bad guy is before they're 'unmasked'. But still, a cute story.

--AJB

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